If he was full of grace and grace on day one, Ruturaj Gaikwad showed off his T20 prowess on day two with some brutal power shots before giving a well-deserved first-class first two centuries five runs. It was not enough.
But his highest score, his 195 (184b, 24×4, 8×6), was met by Maharashtra’s Tamil Nadu in his fifth round lunge trophy match at his MCA International Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. was enough to score an impressive 446 against.
In response, Tamil Nadu finished 267 days four times 179 runs behind. Pradosh Ranjan Paul (74) and Vijay Shankar (41) were the final pair of hitters up front, saving the team from 164 to four.
Earlier in the day, after Maharashtra lost his two wickets in his first three overs, Gaikwad wisely extended his strike and scored 77 of his 96 points scored by his team. I took advantage of the chance to score a fast run that I did. He was particularly tough against the Warrior, with some bold pull shots, uppercuts and, most of all, carving out wide yorkers over the cover line.
TN’s response was poor as Pacer Praveen tucked Dade B. Sai Sudarsan into Dade B. Sai Sudarsan with a duck leg-before in one over, putting the blame on B. Apparajit (20). I didn’t.
Another opener N. Jagadeesan (77) and Skipper B. Indrajith (47) got the innings back on track with a 94-run streak for the third wicket.
Jagadeesan was fluid against Pacemaker, starting with a borderline barrage of excellent drives and flicks. In his second over from the end before tea, Jagadeesan hit his six to a left-arm spinner, Satyajeet Bachhav, before ambitiously trying to repeat it, but was caught on long on.
Pradosh and Vijay, who saved the match with a ton of goals against Mumbai last time, will have to repeat the feat for TN to survive this match.
SCORES
Maharashtra (1st innings)
Ruturaj Gaikwad c Jagadeesan b Crist 195, Siddhesh Veer (run out) 9, Rahul Tripathi c Jagadeesan b Vignesh 7, Kedar Jadhav lbw b Vijay Shankar 56, Ankeet Bawane c Ajith Ram b Warrier 45, Azim Kazi c Aparajith b Warrier 88, Saurabh Navale c Indrajith b Vignesh 5, Ashay Palkar c Indrajith b Sai Kishore 11, Satyajeet Bachhav c Jagadeesan b Warrier 5, Rajvardhan Hangargekar c Aswin Crist b R Sai Kishore 4, Praveen Dadhe not out 0,
Extras (b-8, lb-5, w-8): 21
Total (in 98 overs): 446
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-45, 3-126, 4-159, 5-185, 6-208, 7-355, 8-371, 9-412
Tamil Nadu Bowling: Vignesh 17-1-80-2, Warrier 25-5-105-3, Crist 12-1-43-1, Sai Kishore 17-1-68-2, Vijay Shankar 14-1-62-1, Aparajith 4-0-22-0, Ajith Ram 8-1-52-0, Pradosh 1-0-1-0.
Tamil Nadu (1st innings)
B. Sai Sudharsan lbw b Dadhe 0, N. Jagadeesan c Palkar b Bachchav 77, B. Aparajith c (sub) b Dadhe 20, B. Indrajith c (sub) b Hangargekar 47, Pradosh Ranjan Paul batting 74, Vijay Shankar batting 41
Extras (lb-4, w-2, nb-2): 8
Total (for four wkts in 65 overs): 267
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-44, 3-138, 4-164
Maharashtra bowling: Dadhe 12-2-54-2, Palkar 14-1-52-0, Hangargekar 15-0-61-1, Tripathi 3-1-16-0, Bachhav 16-1-52-1, Veer 5-0-28-0.